Adjusting for Military Service

Many fans have wondered over the years about those players who lost playing time to military service – and how that may have impacted their total careers.

One interesting aspect of win shares and the CAWS Career Gauge is that it is fairly easy to reasonably adjust a player’s career numbers to reflect this lost time. Let’s take Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams as two examples.

Joe DiMaggio’s career numbers are ranked #25 among position players of the 20th century by the CAWS Gauge. Here are some players ranked just above and below him. CWS = career win shares, CV = core value (win shares for his ten best seasons) and CAWS = career score = CV + .25(CWS – CV).

CWS

CV

CAWS

21

Eddie Mathews

3B

450

333

362

22

Alex Rodriguez

SS

457

329

361

23

Albert Pujols

1B

373

347

354

24

Jimmie Foxx

1B

435

325

353

25

Joe DiMaggio

CF

387

325

341

26

Sam Crawford

RF

446

303

339

27

Carl Yastrzemski

LF

488

286

337

As most fans know, Joe D had a relatively short career of only thirteen seasons and this is a major reason why his career numbers do not rank him higher. He lost seasons to military service and to early retirement due to a foot problem.

DiMaggio lost three playing seasons (1943-45) in the prime of his career to military service in World War II. And many fans have speculated as to what his career might have looked like if he did not lose those years. Of course, the same question would apply to some other great player as well such as Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Willie Mays – to name just a few.

For the two years prior to his military service, Joe DiMaggio earned the following win shares: 1941 = 41 and 1942 = 32. On his return from the military, he earned the following in the next two years: 1946 = 24 and 1947 = 30. If we average these four seasons, we get 31.75 or 32 win shares. Therefore, it is reasonable to project that he would have averaged 32 win shares for the three years that he was in the military. And so his new CAWS line would look like this.

CWS

CV

CAWS

Joe DiMaggio

CF

483

337

374

This adjustment would move the Yankee Clipper from #25 to #17 on the CAWS list.

14

Joe Morgan

2B

512

341

384

15

Mel Ott

RF

528

335

383

16

Nap Lajoie

2B

496

334

375

17

Joe DiMaggio

CF

483

337

374

18

Mike Schmidt

3B

467

338

370

19

Frank Robinson

RF

519

316

367

The military adjustment is even more dramatic for Ted Williams since he essentially lost five seasons to military service – three during World War II (1943-1945) and two during the Korean War (1952-1953). As most fans know, Ted was a fighter pilot in those conflicts.

For the two years prior to his first military stint, Ted earned the following win shares: 1941 = 42 and 1942 = 46. On his return, he earned the following: 1946 = 49 and 1947 = 44. The average is 45.25. So, we award him 45 win shares for each of the three years during WW II. Similarly, for his time in the Korean War, 1950 = 19 and 1951 = 34 while 1954 = 29 and 1955 = 23. So, we award him 26 win shares for each of the two seasons he lost there. Therefore, Ted’s new CAWS line looks like this.

CWS

CV

CAWS

Ted Williams

LF

732

433

508

This adjustment becomes VERY SIGNIFICANT. It moves the Splendid Splinter up from the #9 position on the CAWS list to #2 – just behind the Babe. And I think it is fair to say that many fans would tend to agree with this conclusion.

1

Babe Ruth

RF

756

460

534

2

Ted Williams

LF

732

433

508

3

Barry Bonds

LF

707

427

497

4

Ty Cobb

LF

722

419

495

5

Honus Wagner

SS

655

422

480

6

Willie Mays

CF

642

389

452

7

Tris Speaker

CF

630

388

449

8

Mickey Mantle

CF

565

399

441

9

Stan Musial

LF

604

378

435

10

Hank Aaron

RF

643

356

428

Of course, if we adjust for the military time for Mays and Musial, they would also move up a bit – but not to the extent Williams does.

Of course, my short article was just meant to illustrate how effectively the CAWS Career Gauge could help us adjust for military service. That is why I chose just two players to illustrate the idea. I have not done this for all of the players who lost seasons to military service – but I am thinking about doing so.

Cecil Travis did lose almost four seasons to military service. But didn’t Hank Greenberg lose even more time than that?

Agree that Williams and DiMaggio are good posterboys for the impact of military service, although what your study can’t do is illustrate the impact time away from the game had on players after they returned. Oviously Williams handled it well, but DiMaggio showed significant decline after his service (even though he was not in combat) … 1946 was in many ways the worst year of his career (at least before his foot problems began to impact him.

But I wish you would extend your study. There are three Hall of Famers I’d like to see re-evaluaed:

(1) Bob Feller. We already recognize Rapid Robert as one of the best arms in baseball history, but he was the one superstar who volunteered to serve on Dec. 8, 1941. He was the best pitcher in baseball when he enlisted in the Navy and he was still the best pitcher in basball when he returned in 1946 and 1947. Where does he rank in pitching annals if we give him back those five years (minus a few games late in 1945) that he missed for service?

(2) Hank Greenberg. The first superstar to go — he was drafted before the 1941 season and missed all of 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and most of 1945 in service. He was the best slugger in baseball when he was drafted and he returned to help Detroit win the pennant in 1945. How much does he climb the list with his missed time restored?

(3) Phil Rizzuto. Not in a class with the other two, but I’ve always wondered — he’s a marginal Hall of Fame choice based on his recorded career, but he was an all-star quality shortstop when he enlisted after the 1942 season and he had his greatest years (1949-51) after the war. Give him those three years and does it make him a solid HOF choice?

I wrote to you in April of ’09 regarding my research into properly evaluating the players whose careers were reduced by military service or racial segregation. Since that time, I have made some refinements. Here are the adusted numbers for the players mentioned in your article and the comments that followed.